Tag Archives: MVDVisual

A Father and an Assassin Fight Against EVIL Corruption! “On the Run” reviewed! (88 Films / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“On the Run” Now Available from 88 Films!

CID special operations police officer Hsiang Ming is going through a separation with his wife, who also works for the CID in the narcotics division.  As the two attempt to work out an amiable agreement with their young daughter before she moves to the U.S., his wife is brutally slain by a female assassin, a hired gun employed by corrupt cops involved in a large drug smuggling operation.  One of those cops is her new boyfriend, a high ranking CID officer.  Accused of murder, Ming is on the run with his youngest daughter and even tracks down his wife’s murderer, Miss Pai.  Extenuating circumstances leaves Ming at the mercy of Pai who didn’t know her target was a cop and has immense sympathy for Ming and his daughter, a problem she’s directly responsible for.  Outnumbered, outgunned, and friends quickly diminishing. Ming has no other option but to accept the deadeye Pai’s help and the two quickly form a bond that goes beyond just surviving insidious corruption.

In 1988, Bo Ho Film Company and Golden Harvest Productions released the Alfred Cheung-directed, Hong Kong heroic bloodshed flick “On The Run,” penned by Cheung alongside cowriter Keith Wong (“Her Fatal Ways” trilogy). “Mong ming yuen yeung,” aka “Fleeing Couple,” is the literal title which also included another alternate title, “Hong Kong Connection – On The Run,” in more broad English titles.  The fast-paced, action-packed fight or flight thriller told a narrative of ingrained corruption within the ranks of the law, bonded unlikely heroes with conflicting professionals and a sore point connection, and really pushed the exodus, or export, of emigration at the time because of the seedlings of British rule coming to an end with a handover of Hong Kong back to the Republic of China, an act that eventually took a decade to complete.  Anhtony Chan, Leonard Ho, and Sammo Kam-Bo Hung produced the film with Paragon Films and Mobile Film Production as associated studios.

“Picture of a Hymph” and “The Peacock King” martial arts action star Biao Yuen is a sorely underrated action star from the 1980s, overshadowed greatly by the versatile Jackie Chan and the quickly rising through the heroic bloodshed ranks Chow Yun-Fat.  Though immensely popular in Hong Kong for his contribution to the acrobatic style of fighting and palpable stunt work, Yuen should be a household name in the States with select films that carried over.  The only problem was Yuen was never really a part of those niche works unlike the aforementioned stars and amongst others, but Yuen never stopped working, starring in a co-principal production as Hsiang Ming, a CID officer whose special operations department is being phased out, mirror his own life as he is being phased out amicably by his emigrating wife (Idy Chan, “The Siamese Twins”) and child (Chan Cheuk-yan, “Bless This House”).  As Ming, going through a separation is already difficult enough and Yuen’s able to show the meek and reserved desperation that initially stunts him as a husband but breaks through that limitation when she’s shot in the head and he must step up to be the protective father for his young daughter.  The father -daughter aspect is a narrative opposite that strays from the typical damsel in distress device.  Instead, Patrica Ha (“Flaming Brothers”) embodies the strong protector as the assassin Miss Pa.  Quiet natured and a crack shot, we’re introduced to Ha’s unique solitude of naked contemplation and, later, her retro appearance of a woman plucked from the 1960s with the flick up hairstyle.  Ha’s portray adds a lot to Pai’s mysterious past and her cold nature but her character’s arc travels across a sympathetic bridge when Miss Pai’s target ends up being an law officer with a cute family being hunted by money greedy and morally corrupted officials in Lu played by Charlin Chin (“The Imp”) and his entourage of varied goonies (Lo Lieh, “The Untold Story III”) – Wah Yuen, “Mr. Vampire” and Phillip Ko, “Cannibal Curse”) who are so individualized they are worth more than just the general and broad charactered henchmen that tend to be forgettable.  Bowie Lam, Kam Kong Chow, Peter Pau, Lap Sal Lam, Yung Kwan, Cheuk Yan Chan, Shek-Yin Yau, Kwai-Bo Chun and Heung-Kam Lee costar. 

Cheung’s “On the Run” is not only fast-paced, hard-boiled, and well-executed, the story is also dark and unforgiving.  No one is safe from the ingrained corruption even when lives are already upended through a natural course of hardships between sentient people making conscious choices that best suites them, such as Ming and his wife’s separation involving a small child.  Good guys are bad, bad guys are good, “On the Run” doesn’t define and cement the roles of the players as cops turn out to be corrupted drug smugglers and ruthless killers and an assassin for hire becomes a life savior for a father and his daughter with immense sympathy.  Each one of them are looking to escape one way or another:  Ming’s wife wants to move to America, Miss Pai wants to go back to Thailand, Lu’s looking to get away with murder and money, and Ming is open to explore the possibility of either moving to American before all the chaos ensued or flee to Thailand with his wife’s assassin in attempt to not only be out of the reach of Lu and his men as a witness to their treachery and victimizing transgressions but also to escape from his accusations of murder as well as be with his new found affection for his wife’s killer.  This speaks to the current Hong Kong climate of the looming power change and the state of affairs that drive denizens to abscond an unwanted change in rule with Lu and his men likely representing Chinese corruption of a communism power.  The film’s neo-noir veneer capitalizes suspense and danger around every corner and the level of trust certainly wavers in a directional wind that gives a scent of deceit.  “On the Run” is not gun-fu nor is it straight up martial arts; instead, the conflict basis is strictly melee and projectile based without the heavily influenced martial arts action of Hong Kong historical cinema, grounding “On the Run” with more realism in it’s darkest, grittiest narrative that makes the Andrew Cheung thriller more intense.   

88 Films releases “On the Run” onto a new Blu-ray home video that’s AVC encoded with Full HD 1080p high-definition resolution on a BD50 capacity disc.  The new 2K transfer from the original film elements has no qualms about it with a clean picture quality underneath it’s naturally healthy grain and diffused color palate that’s designs around shadows, neon lighting, and low-key lighting.  The negative spaces are often pleasantly inky without any decoding blotches or issues to divide into a couple of shades of black.  Skin and fabric textures are nicely highlighted with full perspective of the grime that builds up on the characters put through the violent wringer.  Patrica Ha is stunning with her character’s introductory getup much to the thanks of the transfer’s refined detail from her retro hairdo to the equally attributed outfit ensemble that’s plain, but she wears plain in a cool, sexy fashion.  The film is presented in a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio.  The uncompressed Cantonese LPCM mono track funnels right, left, and center audio through a singular speaker so there’s an unfortunate lack of spatial direction, but this cleanly presented ADR track still offers strong, robust audio in its action and in its unobstructed dialogue albeit some low buzzing interference from the studio recording.  This strength of quality also extends to the action that has powerful measure despite being held in a crowded, single audio design.  The new remastered, optional English subtitles are of the UK lexicon with 88 Films being a UK label.  Special features include an audio commentary by Kenneth Brorsson and Phil Gillion from their Podcast on Fire Network, a second audio commentary with Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng and F.J. DeSanto, an interview with director Alfred Cheung Running Away, an interview with David West Predicting the Future, an alternate ending that cuts shaves off scenes on the tail end, and the Hong Kong trailer of the feature.  Graphic artist Sean Langmore continues to supply 88 Films with tremendously detailed slipcover and primary sleeve art compositions of characters and memorable moments meshed into a single image.  The reversible sleeve inside the green Blu-ray Amaray case houses the original Hong Kong poster art, which is more simplistic and not as busy as Langmore’s.  The region A/B encoded Blu-ray is not rated and has a runtime of 89 minutes.

Last Rites: Hong Kong heroic bloodshed and noir is defined by many filmic entries but “On the Run” has paradoxical attractiveness about it that separates it from the rest as it treads a gloomy disposition and an expat dream.

“On the Run” Now Available from 88 Films!

EVIL Rides Murderously on the “Highway to Hell” reviewed! (Visual Vengeance / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Highway to Hell” on Blu-ray from Visual Vengeance!

Prison escaped, serial killer Toby Gilmore treks across the Midwestern terrain killing innocent people to take what he needs to retain his freedom.  City photographer Fran Tucker travels to the countryside to visit her family.  When the two collide, Fran is taken hostage after Gilmore shoots a man down on a road rage whim and he keeps her alive because of his loneliness inside a jail cell for years.  As the bodies pile up on Gilmore’s path toward freedom, the keen photographer will use ever clever trick in her repertoire to get away from a maniacal, yet steely, murderer with no sympathy, no remorse.  Sheriff Earl Dent stopped Gilmore once before and regrets not finishing the killer off when he had the chance.  Now, Dent won’t make the same mistake twice as he’s hellbent on stopping Gilmore once and for all before anyone else falls victim to Gilmore deranged acts of violence. 

“The Abomination” and “Ozone:  The Attack of the Redneck Mutants” filmmaker Bret McCormick strays outside the supernatural confines of horror and into a different kind of terror with an escaped prison and serial killer on the loose, titled “Highway to Hell.”  McCormick helms the 1990 release thriller under the pseudonym of B.A. Jenkins with writer Gary Kennamer penning his debut screenplay.  The story was set on the same near by set locations as “The Abomination” and “Ozone:  The Attack of the Redneck Mutants,” such as in the Poolville, Texas area as well as Dallas, Texas.  If you’ve seen all three of McCormick’s films, you may recognize some of the locations in the same shot angle.  McCormick also produces the film but also in a pseudonym of Max Raven, a regular alias used the aforenoted productions.  Mars Film serves as the production studio for the low budget, regional thriller.

Aside from a large supporting cast of Gilmore whim fodder, a murder spree that’s shows no discrimination, “Highway to Hell’s” cast is chiefly three principal characters, all beginning with Toby Gilmore’s escape from prison involving using stolen jail keys, killing a guard, pilfering the guard’s gun, and absconding on foot through the western landscape.  “Reanimator Academy’s” Benton Jennings, who has since “Highway to Hell” has found success as working up through the minor roles of eclectic of projects, had free reign to mold serial killer Toby Gilmore and the result is a generously entertaining dose of controlled chaos as Gilmore quirks and tics as he runs across the parched Texas land provide insight to his mental mindset but Gilmore is no dummy when he’s calculating next steps with hostages that ultimately benefit his survival.  His guard corpse looted snub-nosed pistol becomes an extension of his madness as he uses it to takeout anyone who puts a pinky toe in his path.  Up against him, his main arch nemesis, is Sheriff Earl Dent, played by an American action star mostly notable for his roles in Italian cinema, such as “Ninja Commando” and “Orgasmo Nero” to name a couple plus with a major role in U.S. “Evil Spawn” with John Carradine.  Harris and Jennings share very little scenes together and the ones they do share are in flashback of Gilmore’s apprehension, one that the Sheriff regrets not putting a bullet in between the killer’s eyes instead.  The other Gilmore antagonist Fran Tucker, an unfortunate photographer on her way to see her family caught in the middle of Gilmore’s escape.  Blue Thompson (“The Abomination,” “Ozone:  The Attack of the Redneck Mutants”) provides Fran’s beauty that strikes Gilmore’s perverse chord after his long jail time stint, providing him the only reason to keep her alive, but Fran isn’t one to backdown and give up her life so easily as she is involuntary thrusted into a misadventure of carnage and death  with no one coming to save her. 

Anchor by Benton Jennings horridness and traversal storyline, “Highway to Hell” doesn’t become stagnant because of its independent and minute budget.  The editing, performances, locations, effects, and overall story are more coherent than not without mostly any confounding measure. There are a couple of plot holes that could have been addressed to sate the quizzical audience, such as how did Toby Gilmore end up with jailhouse keys?  Or how he was able to explode motor vehicles with one shot of his puny revolver handgun?  Gilmore must have been one crack shot.  Yet, the sensationalized key points and action add mystery and cult film nodes to McCormick’s ambitious westernized highway thriller that pits good versus bad, morality versus justice, and insanity versus sanity.  Crackerjack editing from Gregg Phillips and stylistic measures by McCormick salvage any misgivings about the budget or special effects in what is a competent and coherent, yet strangely fascinating, terrain and terror tensioner that has little representational or metaphorical value but high on entertaining merit. 

Visual Vengeance highlights another Bret McCormick Texas hoedown of horror and exploitation with “Highway to Hell” on a new Blu-ray transfer.  The AVC encoded, 1080p resolution, BD50 uses the original SOV tape master and what it lacks in saturation, as tapes usually do, makes up for in quality with a near flawless image quality for a magnetic tape.  Details are not terrible defined, typical of a tape, but there is great delineation and discernibility with all objects in screen.  As mentioned, hues are muted because of analog limitations and the inability to touchup the tape itself.  If a digital transfer was made, doesn’t look like much was done to touch up the color, and perhaps has purposefully retained its analog aesthetic, presented in a full frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio.  The LPCM stereo 2.0 English track offers a dual channel ranged output that has clean and clear dialogue with no issues of hissing, crackling, or any other vocal obstructions.  Overall truck lacks vigorous opportunity within the action context, such as gunshots and explosions, but, again, keeps with the original presented elements of a retro SOV exploitation.  Optional English subtitles are available.  Visual Vengeance delivers another jampacked Blu-ray full of special features that include an audio commentary by Bret McCormick, an interview with McCormick, interview with actor Richard Harrison Red Hot Asphalt, interview with Blue Thompson Road Trip, interview with screenwriter Gary Kennamer Writing a Road Map to Hell, interview with actor Tom Fegan, an image gallery, Gary Kennamer directed movie “Redneck County Fever” from 1992, Bret McCormick interview on Kennamer’s “Redneck County Fever” film, an interview with Kennamer on his movie, a commentary rack with McCormick and Kennamer on “Redneck County Fever,” Kennamer interview on his film, and other Visual Vengeance trailer previews.  Inside the Blu-ray, there’s a stick-your-own, retro VHS sticker sheet, a folded mini-poster with original art, and a reversible cover sheet with new art from Jolyon Yates as well as the original VHS artwork on the reverse side.  The Blu-ray comes in a clear Amaray case sheathed inside a limited-edition O-ring slipcover with more new illustrated artwork almost in a Ghana style fashion.  The 90-minute film is unrated and has region free playback. 

Last Rites: My personal favorite of the Bret McCormick catalogue, “Highway to Hell” is a SOV that’s simple yet effective with its western veneered thrills and a maniac making his will to ride-or-die freedom.

“Highway to Hell” on Blu-ray from Visual Vengeance!

EVIL’s Imprint Doesn’t Like Your Friends! “The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” reviewed! (MVD Visual / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” Now Available on Blu-ray

Maddie’s reserved and loner behavior becomes frazzled when a promised small party in a wooded state park expands with invited surprised guests by best friend and roommate Kim.  What was supposed to be a gathering of letting lose with booze and drugs, tensions rise with Maddie at the center of it all.  A truth or dare game sends Maddie into the forest just after hearing a ghost story about a tragic young girl who haunts the woods, known as Caroline Woodsman, the girl who cried her eyes out.   When Maddie comes across an unsettling girl sitting alone on a bolder, she’s becomes marked by Caroline Woodsman’s spirit and all of her friends are in mortal danger.  After that night, they each are visited by the spirt and disappear, some found to have come to a tragic end, now Maddie and her friends that are left must find a way to stop the curse before Caroline takes them all. 

Inspired by J-horror’s folkloric Onryō subgenre, the vengeful spirit, “The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” is an original American-made Onryō story with heavy influences from “Ringu” or “Ju-on”.  Fabrizio Fante and Debraoh Ricky were the top with the film is the feature length debut of co-writer and director Eugene John Bellida, known to dabble in the melancholic and horror affluent shorts with the tense-laden killer neighbor next door “Upstairs” in 2009 and the contemplative contra of an artist and a mental patient in “Empty Places” of 1999.  The move to a major, yet Independent, feature challenges Bellida to build and retain a taught and haunting tale, filmed in the wooded rural areas of Connecticut and released in 2024.  Like most notable vengeful spirit films, “The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” has creepy children centerstage with a supernatural antagonist ready to curse the minding-their-business unfortunate who stumbles across them.  Deborah Rickey, Fabrizio Fante, and Aurora Athame produce the film for Bellida’s Mimage Pictures.

The characters are comprised of mostly black-garbed, rock-enthused, group of friends, if you can even call them friends because of the unsavory way they treat each other between the cheating on one’s significant other, the physical bullying, the mental bullying, the emotional bullying, the betrayal of trust, the leaving of friends behind, and other plenty more examples of anti-comradery that make this group highly unlikeable amongst an evil ghost child with no eyes.  Being a large cast of character is also detrimental to the narrative’s progression and success as there’s too many too many to pick off to pick off right in a slashersque horror.  A slew of off-screen kills takes over as the core mortality rate, leaving hardly any character confirmed dead or alive in what is mostly hearsay fate from another character.  The only time we know a character is in fact dead is when their ghost returns to play mind tricks on the living in a metaphorical medley of guilt.  Mari Blake’s feature film debut as the lead protagonist Maddie has her inexplicably marked by the urban legend ghost when she stumbles upon in the woods.  Blake’s angsty performance is akin to being an outcast, or the black sheep, amongst the character friends with a tie only to one friend, her roommate Kim (Suzanna Scorcia).  The sight challenged apparition Caroline Woodman whose powers are immense and reaching is played by “V/H/S/Halloween’s” Hallie Ruth Jacob and Woodman terrorize, in an arbitrary manner Maddie’s so-called friends that represent, in their own idiosyncratic way, the worst of friends with Cort (Jason Schlaman), Selene (Aleis Work), Jess (Kelsea Baker), Goose (Chandler Reed), Mikayla (Mikaela Seamans), Max (Mark Ashin), Nikki (Lisa Naso), Lindsay (Meena Knowles), Greg, Tyler (Meteu Bryan), and Landon (H.K. Moore).

Bellida constructs a script that has an elimination process that not only literally purges the social toxicity out of one’s life, Maddie’s life, but also puts Maddie into a downward spiral with the vengeful spirit representing Maddie’s breaking psyche as she’s the only one who can see the ghost and hear the fabricated noises eats at her patience.  Maddie also experiences the friend dysphoria  as a trickster device by the spirit.  “The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” is a solid supernatural chiller but lacks tethering to keep the rising body count closer to the chest and the imprinting curse laid upon Maddie is a bit ham-fisted as the campfire ghost story is literally told by another friend and then sanctioned shortly after by a mere lone walk through the woods.  There’s no story device that stirs up the conflict, it just happens. There’s no unearthed video tape, no discovery of bones, an cursed object, or some ancient spell spoken and without this spurring device that makes the woods instilled with evil, then this would happen to anyone but the woods, which is mentioned to be a state park, don’t come with a warning as surely others would have been affected by the apparitional affliction.  The tale of Caroline Woodsman serves loosely as such catalytic crux.  Considering the special effects, the budget limits the visuals as makeup effects take the lead with Caroline’s pale aura and the illusion of bloody eye sockets.  Quick editing and opportunity sound bites, coupled with performances, provide the ghostly impulses over the group which also seems premeditated with taking the sullied friends out one-by-one in an isolated fashion, an interesting course for a child spirt to take in order to pluck souls just to invite Maddie back to where it all started, the woods, where her troubling, friend-induced psychosis began.

MVDVisual conjures “The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” to Blu-ray home video. The AVC encoded, 1080p Hi-Def resolution, BD25 exhibits the film in a widescreen 1.78:1 aspect ration. The codec has fair reproduction value of the digitally shot film with a dark-natural saturation scheme that favors more natural lighting than key lighting, even the woods scenes utilize a more translucent tint that offers muted illumination rather than bright as day illumination. Details are a bit fuzzy and less defined but delineation objects and subobjects more than most indie valued releases. There are arranged characters in background and foreground that create measured depth but the lack of color reduces range to mostly blacks and grays of an achromatic color palette. The English surround sound has a compressed, moderate pop with a clear dialogue track that varies in strength, often times the speech stamina goes below other character dialogue despite being in the same scene and on the same depth level of which they’re talking, suggesting a singular or stationary mic placement. There is also a second English audio option of a 2.0 Stereo and, personally, this was option had a better fidelity that didn’t suppress the strength without compromising depth and range. Special features include an audio commentary with director Eugene John Bellida and producer Deobrah Rickey, “Sick Sick Sick” short film by Fabrizio Fante, behind-the-scenes video clips, and a photo gallery. The physical release is pretty bare with a standard Amaray Blu-ray case with a blow up image of Mari Blake’s bloodied and tear-stricken face. The unrated Blu-ray has a runtime of 94 minutes and is region free.

Last Rites: A busy American Onryō clutters, “The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” is stifled on its fair stab on the subgenre but the themes of rocky friendships and the true nature of people become diluted by the sudden deluge of little ghost girl wrath and her pick of the litter within a large group of toxic friends.

“The Girl Who Cried Her Eyes Out” Now Available on Blu-ray

When EVIL is so Ingrained, Drastic, Dangers Measures Must Be Taken. “Confessions of a Police Captain” reviewed! (Radiance Films / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Confessions of a Police Captain” Now Available on Blu-ray!

Police captain Giacomo Bonavia is a dog with a bone when it comes to pinning an arrest against the corrupt and criminal kingpin Ferdinando Lomunno.  Lumunno is seemingly immune and untouchable to conviction, having been acquitted of charges three times already while in Bonavia’s custody after key witnesses go missing or are found dead deemed by accidental circumstances.  Determined to stick it to Lumunno by going outside the limitations of the law, Bonavia strong arms the release of a professional hitman from a psychiatric ward and who has a lethal grudge against Lumunno for dating his sister.  When the plan backfires in a bloodbath, the captain becomes the subject of investigation for assistant D.A. Traini who suspects Bonavia to be no less corrupt than those he pursues, but when the evidence suggests corruption at the highest level within the public office, Traini wavers on the captain’s crusade against inexorable crime.  

Before moving into a follow-up of powerful possession of one of America’s favorite haunted houses in “Amityville II:  The Possession” and even before formulating a planned coup of an Arican nation with a meticulous plan that involves the hijacking of a major hotel and taking key hostages in “Goodbye & Amen,” Italian director Damiano Damiani tackled corruption on every level with “Confessions of a Police Captain,” released 1971.  Originally titled “Confessione di un commissario di polizia al procuratore della repubblica,” the script is written by Damiani, who usually has his hands mixed into his directed projects, and Salvatore Laurani, based off a story by Damiani and Italian genre utility screenwriter Fulvio Gicco Palli (“The Designated Victim”).  The Italian crime thriller is shot on location in Palmero of the Sicily region and is produced by “Hitch-Hike” producers Mario Montnari and Bruno Turchetto with Euro International Films and Explorer Films ’58 as the coproduction studios.

One of the biggest names in Hollywood shares the screen with one of the biggest names in Italian cinema as questionable colleagues against crime as Martin Balsam of “Psycho” and “12 Angry Men” plays the cynical police captain Bonavia who has lost all faith in the justice system and takes a covert vigilante approach with a dangerous plan that hopefully kills two birds with one stone.  Balsam fashions Bonavia as a man exhausted by law’s red tape, lack of enforcement, and the justice system need for hard evidence, turning the hardnose captain into playing the game just as the criminals do with deceit, guile, and ruthlessness.  While Bonavia’s intentions are in the right place but executed with malice and frustration, deputy D.A. Traini sees the world in black and white and not as red and complex as Bonavia as the deputy is almost near clueless to the corruption with his straightforward approach to the justice system her serves, believing it works without wickedness.  “Django” actor Franco Nero compliments Martin Balsam’s tranquil plotting and coverup with headstrong thoroughness to cover every base to nab the captain in his own misstep or vocally browbeaten and accuse him into a confession.  Nero purposefully feels lost but never out of the cat-and-mouse game that he plays to a character’s fault, losing sight of the real danger of blatant criminality and the scum that pull the strings right under his nose.  The supporting cast includes colorful peripheral characters who double as cynical expendable fodder or are possibly a double agent with their own set of vices with Marilù Tolo (“The Scorpion with Two Tails”), Luciano Catenacci (“Syndicate Sadists”), Arturo Dominici (“Castle of Blood”), Claudio Gora (“Seven Blood-Stained Orchids”), Adolfo Lastretti (“Venus in Furs”), Giancarlo Prete (“Escape from the Bronx”), and Michelle Gammino (“The Virgo, the Taurus and the Capricorn”) in those roles. 

As far as Italian crime thrillers go, “Confessions of a Police Captain” is about as brutal and unforgiving as they come with a medley of fair game for mortal coil and where high rankings, who are opposed to pure corruption, must go beyond that upstanding public official role to bend or break the law to be effective against the insidious nature and unkillable cockroach conduct of crime.  The story puts to question the moral judgement of good men who want to do the right thing but our bound by the shackles of statutes and can do nothing about the misuse of the justice system and how career criminals in high places can get away with murder without even a scratch.  Is Captain Bonavia the good guy of the story as he goes after a hefty criminal or is he the story’s villain for stirring up trouble with a plotted assassination attempt that in turn leads to a string of homicides?  The latter seems pretty damning but, at the same time, it exposes more truth to the underlining criminal element that disguises itself as powerful public figures who are supposed to be on the right side of the law.  Audiences will be neutral with Captain Bonavia and feel more relatable with Deputy D.A. Traini and his confusion and frustration about the internal conflicts of the law, the transgressions, and the blurred line of vigilantism.  There’s also a remark in the story about how integrated crime is the institutions and this goes as far as being very literal too by comment and even exhibiting a scene of a snuffed-out corpse being encased in cement used for pillars of new skyrise construction.  The ruthless and plausibility of cementing someone inside a concrete pillar is one aspect that makes “Confessions of a Police Captain” a visceral Italian crime thriller amongst an already stacked of powerhouse performance.

Damiano Damiani’s “Confessions of a Police Captain” is a taut crime thriller now available on a 2K transfer restoration, limited-edition Blu-ray from Radiance Films.  The UK distributor releases the Blu-ray for the North American market, encoded with both regions A and B, under is AVC compressed BD50 with Hi-Def, 1080p resolution, and presented in a widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio.  The restoration refreshes the image with a stronger color saturation and deeper details that make people and objects pop off screen and have a tactile appearance.  This is the best the Damiani picture has ever looked that remains consistent through the runtime with no issues with the well-preserved and maintained print and no issues with compression codec.  Even wide shots of large landscapes around Palmero, from rock click formations to the cityscape are highly detailed and don’t have that washed out and stretched to lesser image discernability.  The Italian uncompressed PCM mono track offers an about as expected with a post-production, or ADR, audio layer distinctly detached for the action, more so with the dialogue that the action effects as gunshots are particularly well integrated.  Not a native Italian linguist, Balsam’s English performance was noticeably mismatched and had an Italian overlay track with a voice acting dub.  English subtitles are available and they pace well without grammatical error.  Special features include new interviews with actors Franco Nero and Michelle Gammino, a new interview with editor Antonio Siciliano, and a new interview with film score export Lovely Jon.  The new artwork sleeve has a reversible side with a replica of original Italian poster art.  Inside, a limited edition booklet feature a pair of archival interviews with Damiano Damiani conducted by Gerard Langlois and Guy Braucort, cast and crew listing, transfer notes and acknowledgement, and black and white stills from the film within the 23 pages.  Housing the release is a clear Scanova Blu-ray case.  The film is not rated and has a runtime of 104 minutes.

Last Rites: “Confessions of a Police Captain” is the epitome of an Italian police story with subversive city corruption, a vigilante lawman, and unflinching narrative that puts every character in the crosshairs of its noir-like composition.

“Confessions of a Police Captain” Now Available on Blu-ray!

What’s Fashion Without a Little EVIL Behavior? “Helter Skelter” reviewed! (Radiance Films / Limited Edition Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Beauty is Pain. “Helter Skelter” from 88 Films!

Lilico is the hottest Japanese fashion icon.  Fans adore her, brands want her, magazines crave her, and paparazzi and photographers yearn to shoot and work with her beauty that inspires all and commands undivided attention.  However, her astonishing beauty isn’t entirely organic as multiple surgeries through unorthodox surgical procedures that enhance her from a forgettable nobody to an unforgettable somebody.  Her radical surgeries begin to show blight side effects of the surface of her skin, sending her into vanity driven sociopathic spiral of sex, mental torture, and self-destruction, also affecting those closely around her, especially her assistant Hada who takes the brunt of her maltreatment.  When a new, hot model is presented by her manager and the world begins to fall in love with her, seemingly dropping Lilico from being the face of the fashion industry, the model’s snowballing and necrotizing surgical side effects can’t be stopped from becoming all but public. 

Social commentary horror movies like “The Substance,” “The Neon Demon,” and “The Ugly Stepsister” underline the vast awfulness and extreme lengths of beauty standards.  How to keep youthful, how to manipulate the face and body, and how envy can be weaponized from the worst of counterparts are just some of the attributes, which are very accurate outside the cinema, used as tropes for the body horror subgenre where attractiveness is the core catalyst that motivates monstrosities.  These late 2010s and early 2020 films might not have been directly inspired by Mika Ninagawa’s “Helter Skelter” but definitely pulls from the same cloth.  The 2012 Japanese fashion industrialized body and psychological horror is adapted by Arisa Kaneko based off the Kyôko Okazaki manga of the same name with established manga-to-film experienced producers, Morio Amagi (“Cutie Honey”) and Mitsuru Uda (“Xxxholic”), producing the WOWOW, Parco Co. Ltd, and Asmik Ace Entertainment film.

Objectification perspective isn’t always from the outside looking in but can be looking out as well.  In “Helter Skelter,” model Lilico believes in her self-importance, treating others in subordinate to her illustriousness career as the hottest flavor in Japan’s fashion society.  Society objectifies Lilico as nothing more than a stylistic Goddess who can do no wrong and even have the smallest bit of her in their space, whether be the hot topic of conversation or to the be face of their magazine cover, whereas Lilico objectifies those all around her with eviscerating self-proclaimed eminence and dominion over their mind, body, and soul.  “Ghost Train’s” Erika Sawajiri has the perfect look and approach to celebrity derision without blatancy toward others as her expressionless face never contorts with anger, never smiles without the devilish smirk and piercing eyes, that makes the fashion icon unreadable and to sway of control during bi-polar scenes where happiness and disgust swing rapid on a totalitarianism pendulum.  Personal assistant Michiko Hada, under the performance of “R100’s” Shinobu Terajima, takes the brunt of abuse during on-the-clock and off-the-clock professional and personal time.  Terajima’s ordinary bearings for Hada make the character an easy target in contrast to Lilico’s ornate wardrobe and lavish style of living spurred by ruthless nature to be best and most beautiful, taking an authoritative sovereign stance of control in the fashion hierarchy.  Lilico’s spoiled prince behavior coincides by a fueling Kaori Momoi in a queen-like mother figure as the talent agent who mostly advises her star pupil an instigating misconduct mindset with pro-surgical advice and like-minded guidance that artificially influences her body despite the pain and dangers as well as providing a mimicking behavior of dejecting and downcast harm.  Nao Ōmori (“Ichi the Killer”), Gô Ayano (“Woman Transformation”), Kiko Mizuhara (“Attack on Titan”), Hirofumi Arai (“The Neighbor No. Thirteen”), Anne Suzuki (“Returner”), and Mieko Harada (“Ran”) all play a role in the rise and fall of Lilico.

Much like Lilico’s quickly deteriorating fractured state of mind, and body, Ninagawa utilizes a cinematic style that’s overly brilliant with neon colors and a sharp polished look that contrasts reality and distorted perception, creating a disjointed narrative digression Lilico experiences.  The hyper stylization keeps in tandem with the fashion world of flash photography and gaudy maximalism, the ultra-violence and promiscuous behavior depict the cutthroat competition of remaining beautiful and the ugliness that’s truly inside, and the sheer flaunting of indifference and superficiality lingers throughout in and out of favor of our terrible protagonist who is actually the villain and the victim of her own tale.  Each character is flawed beyond reproach and having no redeemable qualities that make them appear strong or promising to be a virtuous type.  Not even the meek and eager-to-please personal assistant Hada who takes the punishing commands of her employer and manager in a purely pitiful subjugation of oneself to not lose a job position and be in the presence of stardom.  Hada even lets Lilico invade her personal life and continues to let it happen with no choice in the matter.  “Helter Skelter” embodies the very definition of the term with its confused and hurried chaotic state in design and in story while, in the same baroque breath, disenchanting the illusion of the fashion industry and beauty standards as not glamourous and genuine but fickle and fabricated with a heavy dish of backstabbing and self-destruction. 

In the same spirit as photogenic magazine models, UK label 88 Films releases a beautifully crafted, limited-edition Blu-ray release.  The numbered release Blu-ray is AVC encoded, 1080 high-definition resolution, onto a BD50 that was already shot digitally with a Red One MX camera through Zeiss Ultra Prime and Angenieux Optimo lenses under cinematographer Daisuke Soma.  This gave “Helter Skelter” a glamorously polished look to accentuate the hyper-stylized and contemporary look that starkly discolor the centralized characters as ruthless people of fashion and high society.  When good finally enters the picture, a young model stepping to Lilico’s high heels as the next young, hot model, the harsh design of modernism is scaled back to simple and sterile aspects with more of the dramatics being held locally to the downfallen characters.  Higher contrasts create deeper shadows amongst a medium-heavy color saturation that primaries strong statement colors like fire-engine red and Duke blue.  The curvature of the anamophoric lenses, presenting in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, do show intentional signs of wrapping at the sides to capture the entirety of the wide shots in smaller spaces but adds to the surrealistic effect and is implemented at the right moments to make it all sensible.  No compression issues to note.  The Japanese DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and 2.0 Stereo tracks are the only two formats encoded.  The 5.1 has formidable attention to the side and back channels with the chaotic fashion-industry ambiance with erratic behaviors steering the scene.  Every action detail is highlighted to bring quieter scenes more tension and every tumultuous moments a fuller body.  The dialogue is crystal clear and layered appropriate with environmental track and soundtrack.  Moods rise up and down with the fluctuation soundtrack that pulsates in breath-holding, provocative, turning-point scenes that while melodies play in more of shocking portions to entice attention during climatic notes.  The newly translated English subtitles have no synchronization or grammatical issues to note and pace well with the visuals.  Special features include a feature in tandem audio commentary with Tori Potenza and Amber T., interviews with star Erika Sawajiri and director Mika Ninagawa, a behind the scenes of raw footage making the film, the Japanese premiere stage greeting, an opening day stage greeting, the Q&A from the Taipei Film Festival with director Mika Ninagawa, the original rehearsal footage, an image gallery, and the teaser and official trailers.  Like Ninagawa’s film, 88 Films tangible release is also hyper-stylized with newly commissioned art by Luke Insect that’s surreal, color, and slightly disturbing.  The clear Scanavo cases comes with an gold Obi strip with film and Blu-ray details and the sleeve is dual sided with original Japaense compositional design on the inside.  Inserted inside is a 23-page color booklet with a chaptered essay by Violet Burns, complete with color photo stills and promotional photos with the front and back art contrasting the two model women in a good and evil, light and dark, way.  The not rated, limited-edition Blu-ray has a runtime of 127 minutes and is A and B encoded to support playback in the Americas as well as Europe. 

Last Rites: There are plenty of horror as well as commentary films about fashion, but none do it with style quite like Mika Ninagawa and still develop an unrivaled cynicism of self-implosion.

Beauty is Pain. “Helter Skelter” from 88 Films!